(A/N) Okay, here's the next chapter! Little bit of Phineas and Isabella interaction. Not much yet, that'll come later. Whilst I'm on topic, who else is loving the Halloween episodes of PnF?! My favourite is probably Tristate Trilogy, but I loved the part in Drusselsteinoween when Phineas took his shoes off and danced with Isabella. I was like n'awww. But, anyway back to this story: Enjoy:*

Chapter 9

After watching Candace drool and stutter over a member of the crew for a while, I got bored and decided to see where the Captain had gone to. He seemed... Nice. I swum to the other side of the ship and saw him looking out to the horizon.

"Hi, whatcha lookin' at?" I asked him. He looked down at me and smiled, lying down onto the deck so he was eye level to me.

"Look over there." He pointed towards the horizon, his gaze firmly on me. "We came from all the way over there. Looking at it like this, it seems so close. But the journey seemed to take days. I haven't been able to do what the name of my ship entitles me to do for what seems like a lifetime." He sighed, and looked back to his home.

"What's it like?" I asked him, keeping my eyes locked towards the horizon.

"Hmm, what? My home?" I nodded. "Oh, it's great. It's a nice little place, actually. My parents own a tavern, which me and Ferb always help them out with... Speaking of which, where is Ferb?" Phineas started to look around for a member of his crew, and then he smiled when his eyes locked onto a green haired man.

"Ah, found him." I looked at him, and saw that he was leaning over the side of the ship, speaking to Vanessa. I say speaking, more of a one sided conversation on Vanessa's part. "That's my brother, Ferb. He's more of a man of action; he built this entire ship!" He gestured to his vessel, and then smiled at me. "Sorry, as you can see, I do most of the talking. So, you've never seen humans before this?"

I shrugged and looked at him, "I've been told about them, but they don't show up here. You have been the first in, well, all my lifetime. There were ones before, but my sisters refuse to tell me about them... Wait, how'd you know I've never seen humans before?"

"Well, the main reason we came here was to explore these waters, you know, 'cuz they're unexplored. So I figured that we'd be the first ones in a while."

"So, 'Carpe Diem'? What does that mean?" I asked him, looking at the name printed at the edge of the ship.

"Hmm... Oh, it's Latin for 'seize the day'. Being on a ship makes that difficult though." Just then a thought sprung into my head.

"Say, have you ever swum with a mermaid before?" I smiled at him, and he looked at me, confused.

"No... Before today, I didn't even know you existed." He laughed. "I guess the story books got it right, huh?" I laughed at that too. Quite frankly, the stories always got it wrong. They always seemed to think we were magical creatures that could grant wishes. What, did they think we were genies? But I suppose the whole tail thing was right.

"Well, how would you like to do what no human before you has ever done?"

His eyes seemed to light up at this, "Well, of course! What is it?"

"Swim with a mermaid. I can show you everything; give you a full tour of underwater life! You'll be able to explore this place like no one before you has! What'dya say?" I smiled at him, containing my excitement. I would be able to tell the coralside girls of how I swam with a human! And not just any human: the captain of a huge ship!

"I'd love to, Isabella. But... I can't exactly breathe underwater. The swimming sure does sound fun though! Give me a minute." And with that, Phineas went inside the ship.

He can't breathe underwater? Why would Ariel ever want to be one of them? How boring must it be to have to stay on land every day, and besides, underwater life is so beautiful and peaceful. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't even notice the Captain dive into the water besides me.

"Wow, you were right, the water is great!"

I looked around startled for a moment.

"So you can swim?" I asked him cautiously. If they couldn't do a simple thing as breathe underwater, I didn't know what they could cope with out here. He laughed and splashed me.

"Yes, I can swim. I've been able to do it since I was about three."

I splashed him back and I saw two members of his crew stood over the ship, looking at us.

"Captain Phineas, what are you doing? It might not be safe and..."

"Pipe down, nerd. Come on, let's join him. It looks fun!"

"Oh, sure. If by fun you mean freezing our legs off in that water, it'll be a blast!"

"Hey, who brought you on this ship?"

"Against my will, you mean?"

"Whatever!" And then the larger one pushed his friend into the water, and laughed to himself. "Cannonball!" He shouted as he crashed into the water, making a large splash.

"Who are they?" I whispered to Phineas, who was swimming next to me.

"Buford and Baljeet. Part of my crew, and two of my very best friends." He pointed each one out in turn. I smiled and waved at them.

"Hey. Now, who's up for a game of tag?" Buford clasped his hands together.

"What's that?" I asked curiously.

"Well, you tag someone and run away from them. If you get tagged, you have to chase people. I'll start." And with that, he pushed Baljeet and shouted a loud tag, whilst swimming off.

"Buford, we used to play that when we were kids! I'm sure no one wants to play your little kiddie game!" Baljeet protested.

"I don't know, I'm up for it. It's been a while." Phineas said, as he swam backwards. "What do you think Isabella?"

They looked at me and I nodded my head. "Sounds like fun!" I said as I backed away from Baljeet.

Although he tried to look irritated, Baljeet couldn't hide his happiness as the game progressed and he eventually tagged Buford. I could tell today was going to be fun!

Okay, so you may be starting to get the impression of how irritated I am at the story of 'The Little Mermaid'. She gave up being a mermaid?! Come on, you wouldn't do that! I love Ariel, but really? A human over a mermaid?! Anywayyy...
Review Response:
Thank you to all my amazing reviewers! And the main impression I got from you all is that you love Ferbnessa. Trust me, I do too! I just... When Ferb sung for Monty and Vanessa I was like 'NOO!' though, I loved the song. No matter, I'll marry Ferb instead... Wait... Got carried away again...
AnMaRo412: Thank you! Your review really made me smile. Thank you so much! *gives you a massive hug*
iheartphinbella05: I know, why Monty? WHY?! *dramatically falls to my knees and looks up to the sky*
woodland59: Not sure who Candace should be paired with as of yet. The guy she has spotted is just a member of the crew as of now, but he could change. I like Canderemy, don't get me wrong, just not sure if I should include it? I don't know, I'll start a poll and see the majority view:')
Monkey Lover 911: It's sort of a Phinbella chapter. It's a little interaction between them, there will be more, of course! And Hookensmirtz is coming, you can be sure of that;) and thank you:) *hugs you*
Chaos Infinity-X: Yes, yes he is. But hey, isn't he usually like that;) And that's why we all love him:P
Elizabeth: I reckon we should have a mixture, just to suit everyone! And Candace is one of those people who is flighty and on-edge constantly. It's mostly due to her getting worried for her sisters well-being. And carl... He won't be a merman. No, I have something else planned for him:P. And sorry about that, I'm always a little too huggy with the hugs. And he is paid in balloons... And love sometimes. But mostly balloons. And I'm pretty sure everyones mums has done that. Mine used to give me monopoly money and pretend that was real... And I borrowed it, had to give it back yesterday:/.
Thank you to all my reviewers, I really appreciate it:) *Hugs you all, and sets off confetti and fireworks!* Until the next time!:*